Worst Words of 2019 announced

Plain English Foundation

Each December, Plain English Foundation in Australia names its Worst Words of the Year.

Today the Foundation releases its 2019 list, highlighting the worst examples of spin doctoring, corporate doublespeak, non-apologies, Frankenwords and buzzwords.

This was a particularly poor year for spin. Police rebranded punching as a “palm strike,” a sinking apartment block was described as “moving in a downward motion” and an insurer admitted their actions were “not aligned to legislative requirements.”

We also found a rash of new Frankenwords and buzzwords, including “philausophy”, “cleanfluencers” and a “frictionless customer experience.”

But what took out the top prize for the worst word or phrase of 2019?

/Public Release.